DOI article:
Perkins, John A.: Harvest technology and labour supply in Lincolnshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire 1750-1850, 1
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49000#0053
HARVEST TECHNOLOGY ■ LABOUR SUPPLY
51
half of the nineteenth century, whilst they
stagnated and even declined on the clays. But
rising yields did not necessarily entail an in-
creased demand for labour to cut the crops. On
the contrary, increased yields were to a large
extent achieved by means of seed selection
reducing the ratio of the weight of straw to the
yield of grain. Moreover, on the uplands and
in the fens after 1815, there was a tendency for
farmers to reduce the extent of their depend-
ence upon wheat by growing more oats and
barley. And by normally ripening sequential-
ly, beginning with wheat and ending with bar-
ley, this tendency acted to prolong the harvest
period and even out the demand for harvest
labour (Low 250).
On the side of labour supply, from the later
eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth century the
absolute size of the agricultural labour force in
Lincolnshire and the East Riding experienced
pronounced expansion, and even grew at an
accelerating rate. After experiencing a marked
fall in the case of Lincolnshire during the first
half of the eighteenth century, the total popu-
lation of the two counties began to grow rap-
idly after 1750; and the increase of population
was absorbed in the agricultural sector, either
directly in addition to the agricultural labour
force, or indirectly through employment in
the manufacture of improved agricultural
implements and machines, or in the provision
of services to agriculture, which acted to raise
the productivity of agricultural labour. The
old domestic industries of the two counties,
which in the eighteenth century had embraced
the manufacture of worsted cloth, hats and
leather, and the dressing of rabbit-skins, had
all but disappeared by the second decade of
the nineteenth century. And the new or ‘ex-
panding industries’, which included oilcake,
flour and bone milling, were notable for an
exceptionally high ratio of capital to labour
employed in production.
In addition to the continuous growth of the
residential agricultural labour force of Lin-
colnshire and the East Riding over the first
half of the nineteenth century, the supply of
harvest labour was considerably augmented
by an expanding supply of casual and migra-
tory harvest workers. There were three dis-
tinct sources of such labour. The first was
composed of those districts that remained
predominantly pastoral, or experienced stag-
nation and even decline in the acreage devoted
to cereals after 1815, in conditions of continued
population growth. In the East Riding migra-
tory workers from pastoral districts in the
North Riding, in which the domestic worsted
industry was in decay from the late eighteenth
century onwards, assisted in the harvest on
the Wolds. On the uplands of Lincolnshire
and in the fens, workers residing in the adjoin-
ing clayland districts and in Yorkshire partic-
ipated in the harvest. On a farm at Burwell on
the Lincolnshire Wolds, ‘Yorkshiremen’ were
employed to mow barley during the 1840s. Of
four labourers who stole two scythes and a
rake from a farm in the fens in August 1829,
one was from Yorkshire and another was from
the Central Vale of Lincolnshire (Legard 117;
LRSM 9 Sept. 1831, 28 August 1828; LAO
Miscellaneous Donations 62/6; LAO Scorer
Farm Mss. (unsorted). The meagre data avail-
able upon this migratory type of harvest la-
bour precludes the establishment of any trend
in the numbers involved over time. But it is
likely that the numbers increased from the
1790s with improvements in communica-
tions, and especially with the diffusion of ce-
real-growing on a large scale to the uplands
and the fens where soils and climate, and hence
normally the harvest period, differed from
those of the traditional corn-growing districts
on the clays, where the acreage of cereals stag-
nated after 1815 (Clarke 1851, 391; LRSM 28
Aug. 1840).
Another important source of harvest work-
ers consisted of the general labourers, arti-
51
half of the nineteenth century, whilst they
stagnated and even declined on the clays. But
rising yields did not necessarily entail an in-
creased demand for labour to cut the crops. On
the contrary, increased yields were to a large
extent achieved by means of seed selection
reducing the ratio of the weight of straw to the
yield of grain. Moreover, on the uplands and
in the fens after 1815, there was a tendency for
farmers to reduce the extent of their depend-
ence upon wheat by growing more oats and
barley. And by normally ripening sequential-
ly, beginning with wheat and ending with bar-
ley, this tendency acted to prolong the harvest
period and even out the demand for harvest
labour (Low 250).
On the side of labour supply, from the later
eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth century the
absolute size of the agricultural labour force in
Lincolnshire and the East Riding experienced
pronounced expansion, and even grew at an
accelerating rate. After experiencing a marked
fall in the case of Lincolnshire during the first
half of the eighteenth century, the total popu-
lation of the two counties began to grow rap-
idly after 1750; and the increase of population
was absorbed in the agricultural sector, either
directly in addition to the agricultural labour
force, or indirectly through employment in
the manufacture of improved agricultural
implements and machines, or in the provision
of services to agriculture, which acted to raise
the productivity of agricultural labour. The
old domestic industries of the two counties,
which in the eighteenth century had embraced
the manufacture of worsted cloth, hats and
leather, and the dressing of rabbit-skins, had
all but disappeared by the second decade of
the nineteenth century. And the new or ‘ex-
panding industries’, which included oilcake,
flour and bone milling, were notable for an
exceptionally high ratio of capital to labour
employed in production.
In addition to the continuous growth of the
residential agricultural labour force of Lin-
colnshire and the East Riding over the first
half of the nineteenth century, the supply of
harvest labour was considerably augmented
by an expanding supply of casual and migra-
tory harvest workers. There were three dis-
tinct sources of such labour. The first was
composed of those districts that remained
predominantly pastoral, or experienced stag-
nation and even decline in the acreage devoted
to cereals after 1815, in conditions of continued
population growth. In the East Riding migra-
tory workers from pastoral districts in the
North Riding, in which the domestic worsted
industry was in decay from the late eighteenth
century onwards, assisted in the harvest on
the Wolds. On the uplands of Lincolnshire
and in the fens, workers residing in the adjoin-
ing clayland districts and in Yorkshire partic-
ipated in the harvest. On a farm at Burwell on
the Lincolnshire Wolds, ‘Yorkshiremen’ were
employed to mow barley during the 1840s. Of
four labourers who stole two scythes and a
rake from a farm in the fens in August 1829,
one was from Yorkshire and another was from
the Central Vale of Lincolnshire (Legard 117;
LRSM 9 Sept. 1831, 28 August 1828; LAO
Miscellaneous Donations 62/6; LAO Scorer
Farm Mss. (unsorted). The meagre data avail-
able upon this migratory type of harvest la-
bour precludes the establishment of any trend
in the numbers involved over time. But it is
likely that the numbers increased from the
1790s with improvements in communica-
tions, and especially with the diffusion of ce-
real-growing on a large scale to the uplands
and the fens where soils and climate, and hence
normally the harvest period, differed from
those of the traditional corn-growing districts
on the clays, where the acreage of cereals stag-
nated after 1815 (Clarke 1851, 391; LRSM 28
Aug. 1840).
Another important source of harvest work-
ers consisted of the general labourers, arti-